Sub-$500 Windows 7 Notebook Deals Make Great Gifts

Black Friday is over, but the holiday shopping season remains in full swing. Even if you missed the $299 notebook door busters, there are still deals to be had and many of these are much more powerful systems than you would have fought crowds and limited supplies to buy the day after Thanksgiving.

These budget notebooks all have Windows 7 and make great second computers for your family or gifts for a friend or a relative. Better still, they won’t break the bank.

MSI A5000for $419. For just a little over $400, this 15.6-inch system features a 1366×768 display, a 1.9-GHz Intel Celeron Dual Core CPU, a 250GB hard drive, 3GB hard drive, 802.11n wireless, DVD burner, and Windows 7 Home Premium. It’s not the fastest system on the block, but its dual core CPU, generous hard drive, and 3GB of RAM make it more than adequate for common tasks. Its HDMI-out port also makes it ideal for outputting DVDs and Web videos to your TV (Buy).

Toshiba Satellite L515 for $449. At 14.1-inches and 5.07 pounds, the L515 isn’t an ultraportable but is lighter than many other full-featured noteboooks at this price point. It sports a 1366×768 display, a large 320GB hard drive, a 2.1-GHz Intel Celeron dual core CPU, 3GB of RAM, and Windows 7 Home Premium. (Buy)

Toshiba Satellite T115 for $429. If you want a lightweight system with awesome battery life, this is the budget notebook deal for you. With a 1366×768 11.6-inch screen and a 3.4 pound weight, the T115 packs enough power for most tasks, but its 7 hours of endurance really stand out. Features a 1.3-GHz Intel Pentium SU2700 CPU, a 250GB hard drive, 802.11n, 2GB of RAM, and Windows 7 Home Premium. (Read Review | Buy)

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AUTHOR BIO

Avram Piltch

The official Geeks Geek, as his weekly column is titled, Avram Piltch has guided the editorial and production of Laptopmag.com since 2007. With his technical knowledge and passion for testing, Avram programmed several of LAPTOP's real-world benchmarks, including the LAPTOP Battery Test. He holds a master’s degree in English from NYU.